Top College Teams Advance To Wrestling Tourney Semis

HAMPTON — Although Oklahoma State is ranked No. 1 by the Amateur Wrestling News, Coach Joe Seay isn't sure how good his team is. No matter: He'll find out soon enough.

The Cowboys easily defeated Big Eight rival Nebraska 29-3 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the National Wrestling Team Championship at Hampton Coliseum. OSU (9-0) will meet fourth-ranked Michigan, a 30-6 winner over Ohio State, in a semifinal match at 12:30 p.m. today.

In another quarterfinal match, No. 2 Arizona State defeated Bloomsburg (Pa.) University 29-12. The Sun Devils will meet third-ranked Penn State, a 27-11 winner over sixth-ranked Minnesota, today at 12:30.

The winners of those matches will wrestle for the team championship tonight at 9.

"We have the potential," said Seay, who has five All-Americans on his roster. "But in a situation like this, you don't jack things up.

"We haven't wrestled Michigan head-on yet, so it should be a nice dual match. They have 10 starters back from last year and four All-Americans, so I can say it will be tough."

Oklahoma State's only loss came at 134 pounds, where Nebraska's Mike Heman upset Chuck Barbee, ranked No. 6 by AWN, 7-6. It was Barbee's fourth loss of the year and his second to the Cornhuskers. Darren Droegemueller pinned Barbee last month in a 23-15 loss to OSU.

Heman and Droegemueller share time at 134, but it was a surprise to Seay and Barbee when Heman took the mat.

"They're real close to each other," said Nebraska Coach Tim Neumann, whose team beat Indiana 21-12 in the opening round Friday morning. "But Heman's a senior from C1and Droegemueller's a freshman. And to be fair to Heman, sometimes he needs some competition to keep him on top."

During the Barbee-Heman match, the Cowboys' bench was assessed a one-point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct by official Fred Richardson. The point was taken off Oklahoma State's final total.

"He said it was for us making noise on the bench, but we weren't making any noise on the bench," Seay said. "I don't want to criticize the officiating, but he didn't know the rules at all."

Corey Baze got OSU started with a major decision at 118 and Kendall Cross, ranked No. 2 at 126, followed with a 7-4 win. After Heman upset Barbee, the Cowboys scored six decisions and a technical fall.

Mike Farrell, ranked No. 1 at 167, defeated the Cornhuskers' Scott Chenoweth 2-0 in a defensive match. Chenoweth, from Perry, Okla., a 30-minute drive from Stillwater, gave up only single points for an escape and for riding time.

"We could offer him only a half scholarship because we had Mike," Seay said. "He chose to take the full ride at Nebraska. He's not far from us, so he knows us and Mike pretty well."

Michigan fell behind 6-0 to 22nd-ranked Ohio State after the first two matches, but John Fisher, ranked No. 1 at 134, won by major decision to cut the Buckeyes' lead to 6-4. The Wolverines didn't lose another match and scored two additional major decisions, including one by Joe Pantaleo, ranked No. 1 at 158.

"I was surprised we fell behind so quickly," said Pantaleo, who won 14-2 over Karl Jaeger to improve to 18-1. "We normally do well at the first two weight classes. I didn't feel comfortable after that.

"I think we need to blow some stuff out of our pipes. We haven't wrestled in a dual tournament this season and we have to get our systems ready."

Michigan had participated only in individual tournaments until Friday, but Coach Dale Bahr believes that makes no difference in his team's preparation.

"You don't want the kids to burn out," he said. "But although we haven't wrestled in dual tournaments, we've wrestled plenty of matches."

Arizona State had difficulty with Bloomsburg during the early stages of the match, but took command when Dan St. John won an 11-4 decision over Anthony DeFlumeri 7-3.

"That was the turning point," ASU Coach Bobby Douglas said. "It's the rubber match for everybody. They were in a position that if they won it, they could have won the match."

Arizona State struggled past North Carolina in its first-round match, winning 28-13. Zeke Jones (118), Thom Ortiz (142) and Jim Gressley (177) combined for 16 points with a pin, a major decision and a pin, respectively.

In their opener, the Cowboys had little trouble with Old Dominion, winning 39-5. OSU's only loss came at 158, where the Monarchs' Rich Castano decisioned Derek Fix 6-0.